Russia bans Scientology

Last week a Moscow regional court ruled that the Church of Scientology is nothing more than an extremist cult and should be banned.

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard and claims to have more than 12 million worshippers. - Photo: Church of Scientology, New York.

Digital Journal

According to the court, Scientology texts foster the creation of an isolated social group, whose members are taught to precisely carry out commands, many of which are aimed at confronting the outside world.

The ruling marks a decade long battle between the Church of Scientology and Russian authorities, with the most recent incident in 2009 where Scientologists won a decision at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, in which Russia was fined 20,000 euro for repeatedly failing to register a Scientology cell in the Siberian city of Surgut as a religious organization.

According to expert opinion accepted by the court, Scientology is nothing more than hate speech directed to certain social groups who denounce Scientology. The court is of the opinion that Scientology is only a selection of books and leaflets by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who founded scientology in the 1950s.

The Church of Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1950’s after he developed a self-help system called Dianetics which was first published in May 1950. He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals as part of a new religious movement that he called Scientology. His writings then became the guiding texts for the Church of Scientology.

A known bigamist, Hubbard also dabbled in the occult although Scientology texts omit this period of Hubbard’s life.